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bd-studios.com

Attention artists and poets

My name is luke kurtis. I am on the hunt for art and poetry projects to publish through bd-studios.com, my art and publishing studio. My mission is to support talented folks by helping them bring their work into the world and making it accessible in print and eBook formats.

I seek poets who are dedicated to their craft but feel overlooked and underappreciated by more established publishers, or poets who are simply interested in collaboration with a press focused on careful consideration of books as designed objects. And I'm looking for visual artists who are looking to translate their work into book form.

I approach all projects as a form of artistic collaboration. My publishing process is collaborative and creative. I pay attention to details, and I make all of my books with an eye towards thoughtful design. Everything I do has a sense of style.

Substance over style

I am interested in many topics, including but not limited to abstraction, architecture, art, design, history, language, music, nature, sexuality, spirituality, and technology. Much of the work I publish is by queer creators, though I welcome everyone and especially encourage women, trans people, and people of color to submit their work.

I am drawn towards experimental, avant-garde, and conceptual styles but do not turn up my nose at something more traditional. I love it even more when your work somehow straddles those labels and exists in an in-between state. Sometimes the most subversive forms of creativity masquerade as something pedestrian. I am more interested in well-constructed ideas, economical use of language, and the sound/rhythm of your text than any particular form or style.

Poets who have developed their work with accompanying visuals, whatever the medium, are particularly encouraged to apply, as this kind of interdisciplinary approach is at the heart of what bd-studios.com is about. Please review the website, including previous publications and my artist portfolio, to get an even better sense of everything. There are also a couple of good conversations on the blog.

Next steps

If you have any questions before you submit, please reach out. However, response time varies, as do production and publication schedules for projects already underway. Once you have submitted, please allow at least three months before you query.

Currently, submissions are on hiatus.

Artists' Books

Temp Closed

Please submit a proposal document or portfolio sample:

  • For fully-conceived book projects, please submit a proposal giving an overview of the project, an outline, and samples of images and/or text that will be included.
  • If you are interested in me developing a book idea based on your body of work, please submit a curated portfolio. Show us a selection of images that represent the kind of work you are interested in publishing.
  • For either type of submission, include no more than 20 pages and use pdf format.

Not Open

Poetry books

Temp Closed

Please submit a sample manuscript that best represents your full-length project:

  • I prefer simply formatted stanzas or paragraph-formatted prose-poems. This is partly because I publish books in an electronic/re-flowable text format (such as Kindle) that doesn't preserve fixed layout, but also because when it comes to poetry I am more interested in thought communicated through language (not visual form).
  • I do, however, welcome and encourage projects that include accompanying photos, drawings, or other visuals, whether by the poet or a collaborator, particularly when they are designed to complement the text.
  • The sample manuscript should be a maximum of 10 pages in PDF format unless you are including visuals, in which case you can include up to 10 additional pages in the same pdf document.

Not Open